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Warhammer 40.000: Dawn of War

Delight

paintings depicting battle scenes in the universe of Warhammer 40k can be seen for hours. Close up they always devoted some cuttlefish or deliberately brutal hero with copious body art, or painting on the glittering armor, and behind – the landscape: the army over the horizon, consisting entirely of bodies in rags with mugs guards dressed as supermarkets or the latest the future of fashion handsome man in his prime. Often, looking at the mosaic, one wish – to see all that the mad crowd in motion, frantically waving swords, chainsaws and giant ax fire with their fancy "guns" while shouting phrases, any combination of letters of which would defeat the feelings other woman.

I earnestly beg you in the first skirmish of the global supply Dawn of War to pause and play from the heart with the mouse wheel, choosing poetic perspectives. Artists and animators Relic breathed life into yesterday's samples concept art and screen saver, which decorate the loading screen. Here it is – the beauty that saved the usual RTS, struggling to emulate StarCraft in terms of balance, and to pretend that its creators have never heard of Ground Control.

The camera in DoW is in no hurry to take refuge in clouds, forcing to go on the attack almost in the same ranks as the greenskins bastards wince from metallic rattle of an armored Space Marines and mock the vanity of the Eldar, excited children's voices whispering. And this coercion – force. Creating a powerful image editor for coloring their own troops, Relic could give players more tactical freedom for the sake of style and inherent charm of the world Warhammer 40.000 masquerade.

in their artistic capabilities DoW closest to Shadow of the Horned Rat and Dark Omen with their dazzling costumed extras, where the visual part of the game was almost more important strategic component. In this world you want to live, I want to know its laws, to take the time part of it, penetrate.

The face of DoW not get bored with the times. Here you will not just any rubber model, smiling sly eyes with bright pictures and graphical shell, called a worthy spectacle. Of the engine, which debuted in Impossible Creatures, squeezed all the juice: rich colors, shadows, stunning animation polygonal units plying fully three-dimensional spaces of the landscape.

But the main thing – it is dynamic, constantly fueled by the desire to again and again to lead into battle lurid brethren, to once again enjoy what is happening on the screen with a riot of slaughter psychedelic effects and enveloping sound mind.

Warhammer 40.000: Dawn of War screenshot 2.Click on image to enlarge.

Pretty Hate Machine

When puny warrior, like a giant steel monster spreads were pressing horde of ordinary foot soldiers, hoping for easy prey, you know that not all This game is simple. Remain with nothing and naive men, you dare to start a hunt for the older rifles but machine guns.

This significant advantage in the engineering capabilities of the infantry should not be blamed on a trivial oversight testers. Wedge in DoW bouncer wedge, which does not necessarily have to look like a mastodon, a neighborhood watering fire.

resupply platoons on the fly can be distracted as little as possible from the management of troops and changing the army in favor of the tactical situation on the map. Success of the enemy in the economy, leading to an improvement of the troops are compensated skillful actions rearmament infantry (after, of course, as part of its fall is inevitable because of your strategic foresight) tools to deal with heavily armored purposes.

Warhammer 40.000: Dawn of War screenshot 3.Click on image to enlarge.

… the stronger our defense

The feasibility of some of these actions may seem questionable in a single game, but in the vast space of the world there are many willing to tickle nerves, if it neglected.

"Single" Alas, undemanding to the player's ability, boring, despite the abundant food in the form of numerous commercials and plot turns, and is straightforward. Designer fantasies had only one race, drove eleven mazes, filled to overflowing by enemy factions.

The thought flashes in my head of AI frustratingly rare, and even not appear at all. Should not expect that the result of working in a slipshod designers will be compensated somehow. The computer can storm the waves strong points, and do not make the right conclusions for their failures. In the spirit of the genre traditions.

Slightly better things are in "Skirmish". Map size of informal small competitions before the war in a hurry to take the form of positional, as in the "Perimeter" which swells base sooner or later have to give players a new challenge – the war "perimeter". Not for nothing that every source of resources you can turn virtually into a fortress, for the possession of which will eventually ignite serious battle – not valued as much additional funding as a base for further attacks or forward defense.

Warhammer 40.000: Dawn of War screenshot 4.Click on image to enlarge.

Antiblitskrig

< p> In such a far from agile, cunning tactical War all comes down primarily to the proper use of the characteristics of each of the races. Do not expect that you will be able to raid the enemy rear – all important aspects is easy to cover. We can not say that the AI ââin this succeeds, but sometimes it goes bad.

Since the beta (which we discussed in detail in the preview) the balance has remained visible changes. Space Marines are still strong, but few (like spiritual brothers – Chaos Space Marines), which puts them on an unequal footing with the Orcs, when it comes to the total occupation of the map. Eldar – the golden mean – the most sophisticated race that can look and feel, perhaps, a clever player, because it all depends on the speed of the reaction.

have not gone heroes and sergeants – the main intermediary between the player and platoons. Their presence improves the morale of employees, and the loss of the "officers" have composed a devastating impact on him.

their presence on the battlefield must sergeants various improvements maintained in the bowels of the base. Unlike the heroes, the sergeants are born in the interface which is responsible for recruitment and his platoon upgrades, which, again, does not distract from vtaptyvaniya opponent in the Earth's surface.

It is not a burdening factor for tactics and base . Its construction takes little time and does not require maintenance of the army and working in the same way for all races, in contrast to the same StarCraft.

Warhammer 40.000: Dawn of War screenshot 5.Click on image to enlarge.

If tomorrow the war

Gradually goal of unification and other "design interiors on the fly "becomes clear. The existence of elements in DoW player can only be war. And in a battle with a "live" opponent chances rid standard devices will be much less. It just so happened that in the single variant Dawn of War – just another RTS with interesting features, but in multiplayer – a completely different game. Comforted a little, but you can not ignore this fact.